IT Job Market Shrinks in CY 2024
BLS makes major adjustments to the number of IT jobs created in CY 2024
Unemployment Rate for IT Professions is 5.7% in January
Park City - UT - e-janco.com - Janco reports the size of the IT Job Market at the end of 2024 reduced significantly due to a reclassification of jobs and the jobs created in November. The unemployment rate for IT Pros spikes up 5.7% with 152K unemployed IT Pros.
In the last three (3) months the IT Job market shrank by 95.8K jobs. This was generated by an adjustment and reclassification of jobs by the BLS. This chart is not the originally published one, rather it is updated with the current data based on the analysis by Janco Associates, Inc. For the latest IT Employment Data click here. Subscribe to our Newsletter to get this information delivered to your inbox as soon as it is released. SUBSCRIBE
The IT Unemployment rate in the past several months has exceeded the US national unemployment rate - That is a bad omen for the IT Job Market in general. This impact can be seen in both the computer hardware and software markets in falling sales. There currently are over 152,000 unemployed IT Professionals. Read on...
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The CEO of Janco, M. Victor Janulaitis said, “Many CEOs have given CFOs and CIOs the green light to hire IT Pros. For the most part, most of those positions were to assist in developing and deploying of AI initiatives. The BLS reclassified several job titles and adjusted the November and December number of jobs reported down by over 111K. The revised data impacted the total IT job market size and showed a resultant decline in the IT Job market for 2024 of 123,200.”
IT Job Market Change - January 2024
IT Job Market grew by 11,100 jobs last month
Updated with the data from the BLS and Janco Associates Inc as of January 2025. Analysis shows that IT Job Market has shrunk by 48,600 jobs in 2023 and 22,300 in CY 2024.
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IT Job Market Growth
Janulatis added, ”Despite the 5.7% IT unemployment rate, the IT job market grew by 11,100 jobs in January. The number of unemployed IT Professionals was 152k in January, an increase of 54k from December which had 98k unemployed IT Pros. ”
IT Job Market shrank for the second year in a row - Over 121K jobs lost
There are approximately 152K unemployed IT Professionals. The IT job market shrank by over 171K jobs in the prior 24 months. Overall that is a flattening of the long-term growth rate pattern of the IT job market. Based on our data and forecast models, there will be limited growth in the IT Job Market in the calendar year 2025.
Data complied and forecast updated by Janco Associates with data as of February 2025
CIOs and CFOs have stopped hiring IT Pros except for required replacements as a result the rate of hiring IT pros plummets.
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The CEO stated, “From our interviews with over 97 CFOs and CIOs, we found that the start of the new administration was viewed as positive from their view. They do feel there is a good chance there will be an economic turndown in the second or third quarter of 2025. However, it will be not deep or long in duration.” He added, “IT Pros who were unemployed last month found jobs more quickly than was anticipated as CIOs rushed to fill open positions.”
Also, he said, “The unemployment rate for IT Professionals is 5.7% which is higher than the overall national unemployment rate of 4.0%. The impact of the DOGE initiatives has not been felt as of yet. However, over the past several quarters much of the overall job growth was in the government sectors of the economy. With the new administration that will in all probability not be the case in the future.”
Janulaitis stated, “From our interviews, we have found hiring and job growth continues to be in small to mid-sized enterprises. Many of the larger firms continue to be focused on improvements in productivity and replacing lower-level skills with AI applications. AI continues to halt the growth of entry-level positions within IT, especially in customer service, internal reporting, telecommunications, and hosting automation. C-level executives continue to be focused on eliminating “non-essential” managers, staff, and services. Experienced coders and developers have limited opportunities with legacy applications. The highest demand continues to be for AI, security professionals, new technology programmers, and Internet processing IT Pros.“
The CEO added, “According to the latest BLS data analyzed, there are now approximately 4.1 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US. Economic uncertainty continues to hurt overall IT hiring. Large high-tech firms continue to focus on improving bottom lines and justify investments in AI and LLM solutions.”
Janulatis added, ”The BLS just reported that the IT Job Market shrank by 22,300 in the CY 2024. The data showed that 5,700 jobs were lost in December on top of a reduction in the number of jobs created in the prior two months of 6,600 jobs.”
The CEO stated “From our interviews with over 86 CFOs and CIOs, we found that the election results were viewed as positive from their view. Many of them felt the business climate was positioned well for economic expansion with the resultant expansion of IT. But with the recent fires on the West Coast, it is not clear that will be the case. Many of the executives felt there was a good chance there would be an economic turndown in the second or third quarter of 2025. ”
Also, he said, “The unemployment rate for IT Professionals is 3.9% which is lower than the overall national unemployment rate of 4.1%. Over 78,000 IT Pros were hired last month cutting into the backlog of unemployed IT Pros. Our analysis predicts the same will be the case for the next several months.”
Janulaitis stated, “From our interviews, we have found hiring and job growth continues to be in small to mid-sized enterprises. Many of the larger firms continue to be focused on improvements in productivity and replacing lower-level skills with AI applications. AI continues to halt the growth of entry-level positions within IT, especially in customer service, internal reporting, telecommunications, and hosting automation. C-level executives continue to be focused on eliminating “non-essential” managers, staff, and services. Experienced coders and developers have limited opportunities with legacy applications. The highest demand continues to be for AI, security professionals, new technology programmers, and Internet processing IT Pros.“
Janco’s current forecast is that the IT job market will shrink for the next few months. The current forecast is that fewer than 1,000 new jobs will be added in December. That will not be enough to absorb all the unemployed IT Pros. Janco’s analysis of the IT job market is based on current BLS data, hiring trends monitored by Janco, budgets for IT initiatives in companies Janco monitors, and its proprietary forecasting model.
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